FlatOut 4: Total Insanity Reviews
FlatOut 4 could have been a much better experience if its car physics were improved and it had a more varied career mode.
FlatOut 4 Total Insanity is possibly the best game in the series to date. Some of the characters and tracks may feel a bit generic, but that doesn't detract from it being a more than competent racer that is seriously fun with a lot of unique features exclusive to the series.
Against all expectations, Kylotonn Racing Games successfully gives a new breath to a franchise that had hit rock bottom. While our first races on board of yoghurt pots were quite worrying because of unfair physics, the rest of the game turned out to be more convincing and pleasing. Original and varied game modes on a large selection of tracks and arenas, nutty races although a bit muddled without forgetting the arcade mode packed up with fun, FlatOut 4 will have you brush off its few flaws to offer you some good time worthy of the first entries.
Review in French | Read full review
FlatOut 4: Total Insanity is better than I'd feared but not as good as I'd hoped. Kylotonn has dredged this near-forgotten racing rebel from the very bottom of the barrel and fashioned it into a basic but fun, stunt-filled speedster, but I found myself regularly frustrated with its repetitive career mode, its stingy economy and nebulous unlockables, its superficial demolition derby events, and its uneven difficulty. A respectable franchise rescue mission but one that still needs some fine tuning and some extra grunt.
For fans of FlatOut your patience has been rewarded; the series has reached its zenith at a time when nobody expected it to resurge, let alone do so with such brutal conviction. For the rest of you, FlatOut 4 is the perfect antithesis of all those sensible racers out there; a real, rough around the edges prospect that demands your attention.
In this case, total insanity doesn’t equate to total fun; it equates to frequent failure. Albeit, often financially rewarding failure. No, the finer moments of FlatOut 4: Total Insanity are to be found when it’s either being more restrained or just all out daft.
A fun racing game filled with lots of different game modes. Too bad the graphic engine feels outdated.
Review in Italian | Read full review
With its weird physics issues and inept AI, FlatOut 4 is a frustrating game that simply disappoints on every level.
A good but simple racing game that gets old too soon.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
An irrelevant and bumpy action racing game whose core idea has now overtaken itself.
Review in German | Read full review
FlatOut 4 is a single minded beast where destroying your opponents is just as important as good driving. There are very few games of this type on this generation of console and whilst it's not up to the standards of Motorstorm or Blur, it's still a lot of silly fun.
Good arcade racing title with original and fun game modes. However, if you want to try it, better wait for a discount.
Review in Polish | Read full review
All up, FlatOut 4: Total Insanity is quite an improvement over the last game in the franchise.
The short-lived but exciting FlatOut modes are great fun for a minute, but between the unexciting visuals, frustratingly unpredictable collision physics and overly aggressive AI, racing in FlatOut 4 is too hostile to be fun.
FlatOut 4 is a little rough around the edges.
Perhaps the main takeaway here is that FlatOut 4: Total Insanity is safer than its name suggests. There's not a lot to criticise in terms of its execution, but its ambition feels firmly rooted in the PlayStation 2 era. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, and if you're looking for a distraction to occupy between juggernaut releases, then the PS4 isn't host to many destructive racers that are better. But while there's fun to be had while you're playing, don't expect this above average car crash to live long in the memory at all.
FlatOut 4 starts fast, furious, and certainly makes for plenty of early fun. However, after that initial adrenaline boost has passed, there comes a question about the longevity of the title.
We desperately tried to like FlatOut 4, but we simply couldn't. Despite some fun game modes and a decent multiplayer offering, the gameplay is sooo confusing, and bugs abound all around. Well, the steep price doesn't help either.
Review in Italian | Read full review
FlatOut 4: Total Insanity does a surprisingly accurate impression of its aging predecessors, but it fails to expand upon Bugbear's original blueprint in any meaningful way, and as such, misses the opportunity to forge its own identity. While it doesn't quite deliver the heady thrills and spills of Ultimate Carnage, it does come pretty darn close, and given that there's precisely zero demolition derby titles on the PS4 at this moment in time, it fills a tank in the market that's been left unleaded for far too long.
In so many ways this feels like a driving game from another age, but no matter how much you miss old school arcade racers FlatOut 4 will end up driving you crazy.